The Continued Adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir
by SMG17
Summary: The fun has only just begun for Marinette and Adrien. They confront romantic dramas, new villains, and continue the ever-changing struggle of growing up and being a superhero.
1. The Shredder

Marinette sat at her desk next to Alya and stared at the back of Lila's head. Actually, glared would be a more appropriate adjective. Because Nino just _had_ to be sick today and Lila conveniently had issues seeing the board in her usual seat. So now Lila was sitting next to Adrien.

Marinette barely heard the bell ring for lunch; she was so distracted by the way Lila kept casually touching Adien's shirt or hair. Marinette couldn't say two words without making a fool out of herself in front of Adrien, but Lila did not share the same problem. Marinette couldn't imagine touching his hair by casually pushing a golden strand out of his face the way Lila did. Well she could imagine it, but it made her palms feel sweaty.

Alya poked Marinette in the arm as she stood up to gather her stuff.

"Earth to Marinette, it is time for lunch." Alya spoke slowly, mocking the spaced out look in Marinette's eyes. Dragging her eyes away from the sickening scene in front of her, Marinette stood up and picked up her backpack.

"Shut up." Rolling her eyes, Alya put her arm through Marinette's and practically dragged her out of the room.

"Cheer up; at least she's not as touchy-feely as Chloe. She hasn't even tried to kiss him yet." Groaning, Marinette stared up that sky.

"Did you see the way she tried to hold his hand? She'll probably kiss him before the end of lunch." Alya raised an eyebrow and pulled a reluctant Marinette over to their usual table.

"Have you been watching Adrien? I don't think he likes her as much as she likes him." Crossing her arms and staring across the courtyard as Lila walked with Adrien to another table, Marinette grumbled,

"But he's falling for her lies just as much as everyone else." Pulling some food out of her backpack, Alya shrugged.

"So she stretched the truth a little-"

"No, she lied. Ladybug never saved her, she isn't best friends with Ladybug- I'll bet she's never even met Prince Ali or Jagged Stone!" Marinette stormed, slamming her lunch bag down on the table. She tried to look for Lila and Adrien, but they were no longer sitting at the lunch tables.

Their disappearance only meant one thing in Marinette's mind and she managed to strangle a scream of frustration before laying her arms and head onto the table.

"She's worse than Chloe." Marinette muttered, barely able to believe that such a phrase would pass through her lips.

Alya stared down at her.

"Lila's not worse than Chloe." Turning her head to the side, Marinette muttered,

"Wanna bet?" Alya poked her the top of her head until Marinette looked up at her.

"You're being too hard on her."

"Am I?" Challenged Marinette and Alya thought for a moment.

"You don't get it; you've never been the new kid. It can be hard and scary to try making new friends." Staring at her best friend as if it were obvious, Marinette replied,

"But you were the new kid, and you didn't lie."

Alya shifted a little in her seat and stared down at her sandwich.

"That's because you and I met really quickly- and it was easy. But I thought about it. You know, being at a new school, in a new city- I could try being someone else. Someone cooler." Marinette put her hand on Alya's.

"You are one of the coolest people I know." Alya smiled,

"Thanks," She gave Marinette a sly smile before adding, "but it would mean more if you weren't a giant dork."

Wrinkling her nose at her best friend, Marinette laughed and opened up her lunch. She did her best to keep her eyes from straying to where Adrien and Lila had been sitting. Which was difficult… borderline impossible.

It helped that Alya had pulled out her phone and was going through the latest news stories to search for anything to add to the Ladyblog. Marinette could have easily told her that there was nothing new, but then awkward questions would ensue like how Marinette would know. And short of telling Alya about her secret double-life, which would surely end badly, it was best if Marinette kept her mouth shut.

While listening to Alya and eating her sandwich, Marinette began thinking about lying. She hated lies and the idea of someone spreading rumors to make themselves the center of attention. But when she lied to Alya about Ladybug, was that really any better?

Yes, it had to be. She was lying to protect Alya and her family and to keep them out of danger. But it still felt awful. Marinette was hiding a big part of her life from everyone she loved. They would always see her as a little silly and over the top- maybe even a bit of a mess. None of them ever saw her as a competent and powerful superhero.

But that would be a selfish reason to want them to know who she was, Marinette reasoned. Maybe she felt bad because she hated the endless web of lies it created. After all, she was running low on excuses for missing class, most of them getting worse with each passing incident.

In an odd way it was lucky that so many of the akuma incidents affected class time since it meant her frequent "disappearances" had a valid excuse.

Marinette was so lost in thought she almost didn't notice Adrien and Lila walking back to the lunch area. Alya glanced at her and over at the golden headed boy and beautiful brunette returning to their seats.

Lila attempted to take Adrien's hand, but he didn't seem to notice as he ran his fingers through his hair. As Adrien's other hand was holding a book, Lila had no choice but to simply take her seat.

"Did you see that? He won't even want to hold her hand." Alya pointed out. Marinette stuck her lip out, utterly unconvinced.

"Or he wants to keep it a secret. Because if Chloe find out, who knows what she'll do." Giving Marinette an irritated look, Alya crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. Aiming for the heart of the issue, Alya declared,

"You're just looking for excuses to be mad at her."

Marinette sucked in a breath and prepared to go off on a nice long tangent about why it was perfectly reasonable to dislike Lila. But that's when Alya's phone beeped.

They put their heads together over the phone as a breaking news story popped up. Alya clicked on the video of Paris's newest super villain, the Shredder. The video showed a teenager with a large purple helmet and a rocket powered skateboard. He flew along the streets of Paris. He touched his oversized orange sunglasses and transformed an entire building into the world's largest skate ramp with a flash of purple light.

People screamed and ran away from the scene, but when the Shredder touched his sunglasses again, an orange light engulfed them. The bystanders began cheering him on as the Shredder rocketed up the ramp and did a kick-flip. As he skated back down the ramp, he transformed another building into a skating bowl.

Alya stopped the video and began throwing her stuff back into her backpack.

"What are you doing?" Marinette asked, although she had a pretty good idea.

"The Shredder is only a five blocks away- I need to be there in case Ladybug shows up."

"We only have thirty minutes left for lunch." Marinette pointed out, but Alya continued to pick up her phone and headed from the main doors.

"That should be more than enough time." Alya hurried to the doors and Marinette shook her head with exasperation. She packed up her own stuff and headed straight for the bathrooms.

Obviously Marinette needed to stop the Shredder, but now she needed to go keep Alya out of trouble too. She locked herself into one of the stalls and Tikki flew out of her jacket pocket.

"You know Alya's probably right about Lila-" Tikki began and Marinette groaned; she did not need a lecture right now.

"No time for that- we need to keep Alya from being shredded by the Shredder. Tikki, spots on!"

Tikki rolled her eyes before being pulled into Marinette's miraculous. A tingle went through Marinette's body as the transformation began. A warm filled her from the inside, tingled to her arms and legs. She felt strong and power as the suit formed around her body like a second skin.

Ladybug climbed out of the bathroom stall and jumped onto the window ledge. She thought to herself that it was a good thing the school's bathrooms faced out at brick wall as she swung her yoyo.

Throwing it around the nearest chimney, Ladybug swung herself up to the rooftops of Paris. Savoring the freedom and power of practically flying over the city she loved, Ladybug made her way towards the Shredder.

It was not difficult to see where the Shredder was as he had transformed everything around him into the world's largest skate park. The city ended and all that remained were ramps and jumps. Also the growing crowd of screaming fans didn't hurt either.

Ladybug landed at the top of the tallest ramp and looked down for Alya. Her best friend managed to find her way onto the balcony of a nearby building with her phone at the ready. Marinette couldn't help thinking if Alya would probably make an amazing journalist one day. Provided she survived her many hair-brained schemes to record Ladybug.

The Shredder performed a complicated grinding stunt on the other side of the skate park. Sparks flared and the crowd went wild as he managed a perfect landing. He smiled and waved as his hypnotized fans. Swinging her yoyo, Ladybug carried herself across the park, landing on a slightly smaller ramp next to the akumatized villain.

The Shredder bowed to the audience and Ladybug cleared her throat.

"Bonjour, Monsieur Shredder." He looked up sharply at her while she gave him a little wave. Smirking, he gestured to the park around them.

"Ladybug, what do you think?"

"I think I preferred Paris the way it was before." The Shredder's expression darkened and stomped his foot. Oddly enough it reminded Marinette a little kid who did not get his way. Or Chloe.

"No, this is cooler." Ladybug raised an eyebrow and gestured to the crowd of people.

"And enslaving a crowd of people? Is that 'cool'?" The Shredder jumped onto his skateboard and used the rockets to zoom up the ramp towards Ladybug. As a precaution she began to swinging her yoyo.

As he skated, the Shredder yelled,

"I am the best skateboarder in the world!" The crowd below his cheered in agreement, and the Shredder pumped his arm as he reached the top of the ramp. His face darkened when he saw that Ladybug was not cheering. He reached up to his sunglasses and asked,

"Aren't I?"

Ladybug just barely managed to backflip out of the way of an orange beam.

"If you're the best, you don't need a crowd of cheering people to tell you so." Ladybug shot back, dodging yet another streak of orange light. The Shredder glowered at her and then looked up as something tapped the top of his helmet.

Chat Noir slid down his staff and smirked at the Shredder.

"She would know, she is the best." The Shredder reached for his sunglasses and Chat had to launch himself out of the way of an orange beam.

Flipping mid-air and shrinking his metal pole, Chat landed next to Ladybug. He gave an elaborate bow.

"Bonjour, my Lady." Ladybug shoved him out of the way of another orange beam and called after him,

"Late as usual Kitty."

Giving her one of his signature quirky smiles, Chat extended his pole and attempted to push the Shredder off his skateboard.

"My apologies my Lady, you know how I hate to displease you." Ladybug struggled not to smile as the Shredder grinded along Chat's pole. She swung her yoyo in an attempt to entangle the skater, but he used the rocket launchers on his board to fly out of the way just in time.

"It would please me more if you stopped calling me your lady." Ladybug did not get a chance to see Chat's reaction as she swung her yoyo to a chimney to chase after the Shredder. He had rocketed down the ramp and attempted to power up a ramp the size of a skyscraper.

Swinging after the Shredder, Ladybug felt the string of her yoyo give out from under her. It's normally taunt surface loosened into nothing more than a pile of string, sending her falling towards the ground. Eyes wide, Marinette wondered if were possible for her magic yoyo to lose its strength. It had never betrayed her before. She looked up to see the chimney the yoyo was hooked around was beginning to crumble.

Ladybug fell as the chimney's bricks disintegrated and stopped supporting her weight. Struggling to pull her yoyo back in time, Ladybug managed to reel in her yoyo, but couldn't swing it out again as the wind pressed against her on all sides.

Arms grabbed her, pulling Ladybug to safety. Marinette looked up to see Chat Noir launching them both through the air to the nearest rooftop. He only released her once Chat was certain she could stand on shaking legs. Ladybug stared at him, feeling her face go red.

"Um, thanks Chat… I should learn to look before I leap."

While he attempted a relaxed stance, Chat looked tense and serious as he replied,

"But that's who you are. You jump in head first. That's one of the things I… admire about you."

Ladybug cleared her throat and attempted to speak, but it was like the fall had stolen all the words out of her. She turned towards the crowd of people who had gathered around the Shredder on the ground.

"The akuma has to be in the skateboard. " Chat muttered and Ladybug nodded, her eyes trained on the crowd below.

"We have to find a way to get him off that board." Ladybug replied, trying to concoct a plan." Chat's cat ears perked up and he run towards the edge of the roof with his pole in hand.

"I have an idea." He jumped over the side and propelled himself down below into the crowd. Twirling her yoyo, Ladybug grumbled to herself,

"It usually helps to tell me the plan." Swinging herself to the ground near the Shredder, Ladybug announced,

"Monsieur Shredder, if your head gets any bigger you won't be able to fit your helmet." The Shredder turned on her, sending another ray of orange her way. She moved out of the way and turned to see Chat cheering among the crowd.

Dragging her hand along her face with exasperation, Ladybug shook her head. Poor guy, it was his first big plan and it had already failed.

Ladybug decided it was time to use her Lucky Charm. She threw it up into the air and felt the magic tingle through her. As it fell into her hands, Ladybug stared down at a jar of honey. Obviously her lucky charm only wanted to send her vague and random objects meant to make her think.

Before she could figure out what to do with the honey, Ladybug needed to jump out of the way as the Shredder headed straight for her. The jar slipped out of her grip and shattered on the ground, sending honey everywhere.

The Shredder pointed at Ladybug and yelled out to his crowd of fans,

"Get Ladybug, we need to prove that I'm the greatest skateboarder in the world!" The crowd yelled and grumbled, storming after her.

Ladybug turned around to find herself face to face with Chat. He winked at her and then wrapped his arms around her. Ladybug struggled, but her brain was beginning to find a plan in the middle of the insanity.

Chat dragged Ladybug over to the Shredder and awaited his instructions with a blank face. Ladybug struggled against him, but hesitated at hurting Chat. After all he wasn't in control of himself- or was he?

"Take her Miraculous." Ordered the Shredder, and Chat began to reach for Marinette's earrings. He stopped and settled a hand on her shoulder. Ladybug could practically feel his smiling.

"Actually I don't think I want to."

Chat extended his pole, trying to catch the Shredder off balance. The skateboarder fired up his rocket boosters and headed straight for the both of them, ready to run them down.

But something stopped his skateboard mid-ride, sending him flying off. Ladybug looked down at the skateboard trapped by the sticky, sweet honey caught in its wheels. Chat twirled his hand dramatically, inviting Ladybug to break the board.

She managed to extract it from the sticky mess and break the board over her knee. As the little black butterfly flew out of the board, Ladybug opened her yoyo and entrapped the little bug yelling,

"I release you from evil!" Catching the yoyo, Ladybug allowed the pure white butterfly to go free. "Bye, bye little butterfly." She murmured before throwing the largest portion of the honey jar into the sky.

A flurry of ladybugs filled the sky, instantly fluttering around the ramps and returning the world to normal.

Chat and Ladybug fist bumped and then looked over at the Shredder, who was actually just a ten year old boy. He looked up at the both of them with a confused look on his face.

"What happened?"

Ladybug bent down to his level and looked at the orange and purple skateboard, which was still broken. This only meant that his board had been broken before he was akumatized. Ladybug picked up the two halves of the board and handed them to the little boy.

"I'm sorry about your skateboard." He wiped his nose with the back of his hand.

"I broke it trying to show my brother that I'm just as good as he is. I guess I'm not. Jerome was right; I'll never be the greatest skateboarder in the world."

Chat sat down next to the little boy and smiled.

"You want to know something- I wasn't always this good at saving the world." Ladybug raised an eyebrow and Chat gave her a sheepish look, "Alongside my Lady of course. But I practiced and I kept working, and even now I'm still figuring things out. We're always learning- and some of us take longer than others." Chat looked at Ladybug with a gleam in his eyes, she had the feeling he was trying to compliment her again.

An older boy resembling the little Shredder walked over to them. He took the skateboard from Ladybug's hands and shook his head.

"I'm sorry Phillip; I knew you weren't ready to try that move. I shouldn't have tried to push you before you were ready… Do you want to teach you a flip using my board?" Phillip wiped his nose and looked up at Jerome with wide eyes.

"You'll let me use your skateboard?" Jerome put his hand on Phillip's shoulder and helped him stand up.

"Sure, we can't have you getting rusty before you get a new board." Smiling, Phillip let his brother lead him away.

Ladybug and Chat watched the two brothers walk off. They looked around to notice the attention they were beginning to draw from the crowd of confused people.

"I believe it's time we take our leave." Chat said, and the two went flying off towards the rooftops of Paris.

Ladybug stopped on one of the roofs. She sat down to look at the two brother's walking back through the streets. Chat took a seat next to her, his eyes focused on her.

"What's wrong?" He asked, for a moment Ladybug thought he might try to take her hand, but he seemed to decide against it. She sighed and attempted to put her jumbled thoughts into words.

"Just… lying. He became the Shredder because his brother lied- making him think he could do some trick or that he would never be good enough."

"But he made up for it." Pointed out Chat, and Ladybug looked at him. He made it sound so simple, like the world was back in balance because one good deed canceled out a bad one.

"What about Volpina?"

"Not her again." Groaned Chat,

"Fine, what about us? We lie- we have to lie. To families and friends- even each other. You're the only person who knows about this part of my life- but you can't know anything about the normal me."

"But I want to." Chat murmured, but Marinette pretended not to hear him. Because she couldn't be tempted to tell Chat. He was one of the most important people in her life, he was her partner- but they had a job to do. And revealing the truth would get in the way of that.

Ladybug stared out over the city,

"I just want to understand… lying is bad, but…"

"Lying doesn't make you bad. If you lie, that doesn't make you evil person. It can be a bad thing to do, but it's not as simple as that. Volpina lied because she wanted attention- which is a bad reason to do a bad thing- but inside she can still be a good person. Just like you lying about your identity doesn't make you a bad person."

Marinette looked into Chat's soft green eyes. For the first time since meeting Lila, Marinette felt like she could understand. Things were still complicated, but that's because she'd been simplifying the world into good and evil. And maybe that was not how the world was supposed to work.

Ladybug took Chat's hand and squeezed it.

"Thank you… I needed that." Chat smiled at her and she had to look away. It was that look he sometimes gave her that she didn't know what to do with. Like she was the center of his world.

He leaned a little closer and whispered,

"When we were fighting Volpina, I… would you really have given up your Miraculous for that boy? Adrien?"

Her throat went dry. The answer was obviously yes, but at the same time… how would Chat react to that? To knowing she was so willing to sacrifice her powers- her life for Adrien?

Ladybug said a silent prayer of thanks as her Miraculous beeped.

"I would have done the same for you." The words came out on their own, as if she had no control over them. A part of her wanted to take the words back and hide them back away in the deep dark corner of her mind that they came out of.

But they were true. If Chat's life was at risk, she would do anything to save him. She just didn't know what that meant.

Before either of them could respond, Ladybug pulled out her yoyo and sailed away. The entire time her mind was clouded with her new thoughts about good and evil. Well, actually she was thinking about Chat. But she was also trying not to think about Chat.

Ladybug slipped back into the girl's bathroom and stepped out of the bathroom as Marinette. Tikki was nestled sweetly in her jacket pocket, taking a well-deserved nap. Once she woke up Marinette would give her the customary cookie and they could talk. Maybe Tikki could help her sort everything out. And yet… Marinette wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about Chat- not that way. Because it meant crossing lines she wasn't ready to cross.

Marinette checked her reflection in the mirror and sighed. In a way some things felt clearer, but others felt hazier. Being a teenager and a superhero was complicated business.

Walking out of the bathroom and back to class, Marinette showed up in time for Alya to finish giving her excuse as to why she was late to science. Obviously she was showing her newest video on the Ladyblog.

Chloe snickered when Marinette walked in. She looked down to find she has stepped in a piece of toilet paper from the bathroom. Struggling to extract it from her shoe, the teacher turned her attention to Marinette.

Blushing and still trying to be subtle about the toilet paper, Marinette mumbled,

"I got locked in the girl's room." The teacher gave her a foreboding scowl over her glasses. Clearly she was not in the mood for excuses. Marinette pulled the toilet paper off her shoe and held it up as proof. The teacher simply pointed to her seat and Marinette quickly scooted over to it.

She did a quick scan of the room and was relieved to see that Adrien was nowhere in sight. Not only did he miss her embarrassing little episode, he wasn't sitting next to Lila.

Relaxing into her seat, Marinette sat back and listened to Alya's whispered retellings of Ladybug's latest adventure with the Shredder. At least some things were easy to predict.


	2. The Cat's Day Off

The Cat's Day Off

In his giant cavern of a room, Adrien sat at his desk scrolling through the Ladyblog. Plagg had taken a break from mocking him to gorge himself on more camembert, a pleasant break from the constant borage of comments like,

"But you were there" or "Why aren't there any photos of Chat Noir?"

Adrien clicked on a video when he and Ladybug faced off against the Shredder last week. His face inadvertently melted into a gooey smile while watching his lady easily evade the Shredder's attacks. She flipped and moved so effortlessly.

Although he was no longer sure if he should call her his lady. While battling the Shredder, Ladybug had mentioned she didn't want him referring to her as "my lady." It had hurt. Yet she still seemed to like it. And she had said she would have sacrificed herself for Adrien and Chat… Everything felt too complicated.

Plagg finished the last piece of camembert in one gulp and shook his head with disgust at Adrien.

"This is the part where Ladybug nearly fell off the building. I should know since we were there. We fought the Shredder too." Tickling his little kwami's stomach, Adrien changed the subject by shooting back,

"Do you ever chew your camembert? Or do you just inhale it?" Patting his stomach indignantly, Plagg responded,

"I prefer to cut out the middle man." Adrien wrinkled his brow while trying to understand how that would work- seeing as Plagg's mouth would be the middle man- when he caught sight of something interesting in Alya's video.

Rewinding it slightly, Adrien watched Chat Noir wrap his arms around Ladybug and move her to safety. He paused for a split second, and stared at the look on her face.

As Chat Noir, Adrien had seen Ladybug as fierce, strong, determined… maybe even jealous once or twice. Although that last one may have been wishful thinking on his part. But he had never seen her so… it was hard to describe the look. A second before, she had practically surrendered to the fall, almost hopeless. Yet when he arrived, she looked both relieved and almost as if she expected him. Like she knew he would always catch her when she fell.

His heart did a little flutter in his chest. Adrien needed Ladybug to know that he would always catch her when she fell. No matter what, he would be there. When she knew that, she would know he loved her.

Plagg flew in front of Adrien's face, blocking his view of Ladybug's face.

"Go back to when she was falling- that's my favorite part." Adrien rolled his eyes and shoved Plagg aside.

"What do you have against Ladybug?" He asked his kwami, but all he received in return was a shrug.

"Nothing, Ladybug and Chat Noir have always worked together. But do you have to drool over her?" Adrien picked up the empty container of camembert and threw it away in the trash next to his desk.

"I do not drool." He replied, attempting to appear indignant. The effect was ruined by Plagg pointing to the corner of his mouth.

"What about that?"

Adrien wiped the corner of his mouth to find was without drool. Plagg laughed and shook his head.

"You should have known better than to fall for that."

Checking his watch, Adrien opened his jacket pocket so Plagg could hide away.

"Come on, we're going to be late meeting Nino in the park." Taking his rightful place in Adrien's pocket, Plagg replied,

"Right, what does the Bubbler have planned again?" Trying to avoid the kwami's vile camembert breath, Adrien shut off her computer and headed out the door.

"First of all, his name is Nino, not the Bubbler." Plagg sniffed, he preferred Nino's super villain name, "And second, Nino thought it was crazy I've never been on the carousel or played normal games like hopscotch. He wanted to make a day out of it."

"Humans, you sure have an interesting idea of fun." Plagg responded before settling himself down for a nap.

Adrien let the Gorilla drive him to the park, but made him keep his distance at the other end of the park.

As Adrien walked towards the carousel, in the back of his mind, he knew there was a good chance that Nino would not come alone. At the very least he would probably bring Alya along. Adrien would have preferred to keep it just the two of them, but Nino liked to make things a party.

Pausing for a moment, Adrien thought he saw a familiar swirl of red and black. He turned to see Ladybug land on a park bench. Frantically looking around, absentmindedly holding his ring at the ready, he said,

"Ladybug-"

Her beautiful blue eyes widened when Ladybug noticed him for the first time.

"Adrien!" She practically fell off the bench and then scrambled to regain her balance.

"My la- my, my, is there a new super villain nearby?" Adrien asked, while internally panicking. "My my?" He was an idiot.

Glancing around nervously, her face turning nearly as red as her suit, Ladybug replied,

"Wh- no, I'm just… on patrol. Keeping an eye out for the city of Paris- you never know when the next villain will show up." Adrien relaxed a little, but his brain immediately scrambled to remember anytime his Lady may have mentioned a patrol. Normally they just transformed into their super-selves when a new villain arrived.

"Oh… well… thank you." Came his awkward reply, struggling to find a way out of this awkward situation. She looked just as uncomfortable and Adrien cursed himself for being so incompetent about this stuff. At least as Adrien. For some reason as Chat, he had all the confidence he needed.

Ladybug fiddled with yoyo and muttered something under her breath while staring at him, it sounded like,

"If you really want to thank me…" She didn't finish as she straightened her shoulders and swung her yoyo towards a collection of trees.

"Um… stay safe." Ladybug declared before swinging off into the distance.

Adrien sighed and shook his head. She went on patrol- of course she did. It made so much sense. He would just have to find time in between his various classes and additional classes and saving the world on a weekly basis. And if he happened to see Ladybug more often… he could only hope.

Opening his jacket, Adrien asked,

"What do you think about nightly patrols Plagg?" The only response he received was a yawn which smelled strongly of cheese before the kwami burrowed deeper into his pocket.

Shrugging, Adrien headed deeper into the park. If it meant spending more time with Ladybug, he would gladly give up his remaining free time patrolling the city.

As expected, rather than coming alone or just inviting Alya, Adrien arrived at the carousel to find his entire class. Chloe immediately went over to him and wrapped him in a big hug. He barely managed to dodge a kiss on the cheek before heading into the crowd in search of Nino.

Lila found him first, putting a hand on his shoulder and standing on her tip-toes, another attempt to kiss him on the cheek. Obviously his face looked very kissable today.

With his usual grace and suave moves- meaning none at all- Adrien side-stepped Lila and patted her on the head. Internally he screamed a little, wondering what the heck he was doing. But at the same time, Adrien had no experience deflecting a woman's advances. If he had, maybe Chloe would leave him alone.

Finally finding Nino, he fist-bumped his friend before muttering,

"I was kind of hoping this would just be a few of us." Nino smiled awkwardly,

"I know- and I tried, I really did man." Adrien raised an eyebrow, and Nino held up his hand as if he were swearing in court. "I only told Alya, Kim, and Myrene. But they told Marinette, Ivan, Nathaniel, and Sabrina- and they told-" Adrien stopped him and shook his head.

"Everyone else, I guess." Shrugging sheepishly, Nino nodded.

"Kind of."

Adrien sighed and glanced around at all of his classmates. Looking at Nino from the corner of his eye, he said,

"Well… I never did have that birthday party." Grinning broadly, Nino slapped Adrien on the shoulder and guided him towards the carousel.

"Exactly, think of this as a late birthday present." Adrien smirked at him, but allowed Nino to push him towards the ride.

"Sure, or just making up for the fact that you kind of ruined my birthday party by becoming a super villain."

"There's always that." Nino conceded before leading Adrien to one of the horses. Gesturing dramatically to the wooden horse with blue hair and a blue bridal, Nino presented Adrien to his first carousel house.

"Climb on and let's get this party started."

Adrien laughed and watched as Nino pulled himself onto the airplane in front of him. Mounting the wooden horse, Adrien looked down at the other students.

Rose waved at him wearing that adorable smile of hers. Nathaniel stood at the edge of the group, holding his trusty notebook as usual. He held up his pencil and Adrien had the unfortunate feeling he knew what Nathaniel's next drawing was going to be of.

Sabrina pulled out her cellphone and began to take pictures, Adrien felt his cheeks go red. He hadn't come to the park to be part of another photoshoot. He hadn't actually anticipated being the center of attention, but most of his classmates were focused on him.

Alya was about to step onto the carousel, but she stopped when Marinette appeared from behind some bushes.

"Where have you been?" Adrien heard her ask while Marinette panted a little and hurried to fix her dress. It was the first time Adrien had seen Marinette in a dress and she look quite pretty. He wondered if she had designed it herself.

Adrien did not hear her response to Alya as his attention was taken up by a nearby disturbance. He glanced behind him as Chloe and Lila argued over who would sit in the submarine behind him.

"I was here first." Chloe exclaimed, but Lila shook her head.

"You said it yourself, carousels make you feel sick." Crossing her arms, Chloe glared at Lila. She was clearly sizing her up, preparing to release one of her signature insults, but she faltered.

"I- you- they do not." Lila raised an eyebrow and gestured towards the crowd of students.

"You'll have a much better view out there." Chloe looked her up and down, obviously struggling to respond. Lifting her chin and marching away, she replied,

"Fine." As usual she acted as though the whole thing were her idea.

Adrien glanced around and noticed that Nino had taken the airplane in front of him, Alya sat on a mini-motorcycle in front of Nino, and Marinette sat on the unicorn. After Lila took her seat in the submarine, the ride began.

The horse went up and down as the ride began spinning in a circle. To a certain extent it felt a little pointless. But then again, nothing much compared to bounding along the rooftops in Paris. Also, if Adrien closed his eyes and pretended he was a little kid again, it was almost fun.

He started to smile when he opened his eyes. Out in the crowd of students he saw various cellphone taking photos. He could only hope they weren't of him. Chloe smiled and waved eagerly at him as he flew past.

As usual, Adrien was struck by how differently she treated him instead of Chat Noir. After all, Chat was a super hero who had saved her life several times, but she spent most of the time obsessing about Ladybug instead.

Spinning around once again, Chloe blew him a kiss and he did his best not to be rude. He didn't know why she acted his way around him, constantly trying to monopolize all his attention and trying to touch him.

His attention was diverted when he noticed a man carrying a camera walking towards them. Adrien ducked down his head. For some reason he had a bad feeling that this fun day at the park was going to become a three-ring circus. At least more than it already had.

The man pushed his way to the front, much to Chloe's obvious irritation. He adjusted his camera and began snapping pictures. His attention seemed to be focused solely on Adrien.

Adrien grimaced, shielding his face from the camera. He only modeled for his father, and he wasn't even sure he wanted to do that. After all that was just to make his father happy.

An arm appeared around his shoulder and Adrien looked up to see Lila posing. He stared shocked between Lila and the camera man. His stomach sank as he looked out into the crowd. Even more people were coming to take pictures. Of him, because they were always taking pictures of him. Always talking about how he looked. Just like his father.

As the ride began to slow, Adrien brushed off Lila and stood up. Nino looked over at him.

"Hey are you-"

Adrien rushed off the ride,

"I'm feeling kind of dizzy." He lied, rushing towards the bushes while everyone watched him go. They were always watching him. And he'd had enough of it for one day.

Running and staying low to the ground, Adrien found a nice trashcan to hide behind. He opened his shirt and Plagg flew out of his pocket,

"What did you do that for?"

Glancing over at the crowd of people gathered at the carousel, a few even starting to walk after him, Adrien replied,

"I think I'd rather be on patrol right now than stared at by a bunch of people."

Plagg rolled his eyes, but was forced to comply when Adrien said,

"Plagg, transform me."

In a flash of green light, Plagg flew into his ring, even then Adrien could feel the irritation radiating off the little kwami.

Well tough camembert, Adrien thought as his clothes transformed into his black leather cat suit. He ran his hands through his hair as the ears popped up. It felt good to be Chat Noir.

Flexing his sharpened gloves which acted as his claws, Adrien looked up at the city around him. Would it really be that simple?

Glancing over at the confused crowd walking vaguely in his direction, Chat pulled out his staff. Raising an eyebrow at the various photographers, Chat extended his staff and vaulted onto the nearest roof.

Sitting in a rather cat-like position crouched on the roof, Chat tilted his head and stared at everyone. What would happen if he went down there?

Lila might still be nice to him- after all she was nice even when she was Volpina. Then again, she had also been trying to convince them she was a superhero… Alya would just be on the lookout for Ladybug, Chloe would try to boss him around… Marinette might be nice. They had worked pretty well together to bring down the Evillustrator.

Chat sighed and stared up the clouds. He wasn't fully himself when he was Chat- he was an alter-ego who could flirt and make puns and screw up as much as he wanted… provided it didn't mean a villain escaped.

But the Adrien everyone saw wasn't the full him either. The quiet rich boy who always did what he was told. It seemed like the person closest to finding the in-between part of him was Ladybug. Maybe that's why he was so smitten with her.

Chat shook his head and smirked, studying the skyline for some sign of his Lady.

No, he loved Ladybug because she was brave and determined and always putting one hundred percent of herself into everything she did. Sometimes for the worst, Chat thought ruefully.

The run in with Volpina had certainly proved that.

Chat sighed and started vaulting over the rooftops. There was no point in just waiting around for Ladybug to show up. If he was going to go on patrol, he would do it right.

As the air ruffled his golden hair, Chat smiled at the utter freedom he felt. No girls chasing after him asking for autographs, no photographers, just… him and Paris.

Finding a particularly high chimney, Chat perched himself on the edge and looked out over the city. He wondered where the next akuma would come from. Everyday people suffered heartbreak and anger and disappointment- it was a fact of life. Would one of them find themselves vulnerable to Hawkmoth's dark butterflies?

Everything seemed so quiet and peaceful. The sky was blue, clouds were floating high above and the city was a buzz with life. Hard to believe that a single akuma could send the city spiraling towards disaster.

Standing and stretching, Chat decided to make his way towards the Eiffel Tower. It would be packed with tourists, but if he stayed in the shadows nearby no one would notice him. He could just sit back and enjoy the view.

Chat decided to just run and jump along the rooftops, enjoying the speed and balance his superhero transformation gave him. Even if it did have a tail.

Finding a nice big chimney in the shade to relax against, Chat also lavished in the feeling of being invisible. At home he was the center of attention, around the city he couldn't help running into photographers, teenage girls or even his own image plastered on billboards.

Chat enjoyed the view, wondering idly if he should visit the Louvre next. Although they might still be a little iffy about him since his Copycat ended up stealing the Mona Lisa.

"Help, no, stop!" Chat's ear's twitched as he heard a man yelling from below. He jumped up and grabbed into the edge of the room, allowing himself to lean over as far as possible to check out the street below.

Chat watched as a man in a navy blue sweatshirt ran away while another man lay crumpled on the ground. Jumping off the roof, Chat managed to land nimbly next to the fallen man. A large bruise was already beginning to form on the man's temple.

Chat froze when he heard the man groan and began to stir.

"He stole the ring..." The man murmured, and Chat put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'll get it back." Seeing a woman and her little boy walk by, Chat gestured for them to come over. The woman looked anxious but the little boy pulled her along, smiling up at Chat.

Staring at the woman, he told her,

"Call the police, there's been a robbery." Chat started to run in the direction of the killer. The woman clutched her phone and stared after him.

"Where are you going?"

"To catch the robber of course."

Chat used his staff to vault himself onto the top of an awning and spotted the offending navy sweatshirt. He used his staff to help him jump through the air, over people and ricocheting off the sides of the buildings. At one point he used his staff to help him run horizontal against the sides of the buildings to cut through the crowds.

At a particularly busy crossroads, Chat jumped down and landed next to a flower vendor. The man screamed, but Chat only focused on the man trying to casually walk through the crowd.

The people cleared a bit of a path around Chat until he walked right up behind the man in the navy sweatshirt and politely tapped him on the shoulder. The man turned around gave a little start at Chat's appearance,

"Pardon me, but I believe you have something that doesn't belong to you."

The thief tried to run. Which didn't make sense in the least, but Chat put it down to panic. But he still relished pulled the man back by his hoodie. Not too hard to seriously hurt his neck, just enough to get his attention.

Chat put a hand on the man's shoulder and held out an open palm.

"I'm not a patient Cat."

A siren wailed in the distance as the thief handed over a small paper gift bag. Chat smiled at him and looked up at a police officer raced over to them, puffing the entire way. Chat rolled his eyes, but waited as the officer pulled out his handcuffs.

"Merci, I will leave you in better hands." As the police officer began to cuff the thief, Chat Noir took to the rooftops.

He managed to find his way back to the woman and her son. The injured man was sitting up and looking around in a daze. Chat jumped down and presented the bag to the man.

"I believe this belongs to you." The man stared at him in amazement and immediately opened the bag, pulling out a small box. He opened the box to find a simple silver ring.

Grinning broadly, the man stood up and hugged Chat. Shocked and frozen, Chat wasn't sure how to respond. The man pulled away, already beginning to slouch somewhat. Chat and the woman helped him sit down again.

"Thank you, thank you so much… I'm proposing to my boyfriend this weekend. I was afraid I would never get this ring back." Chat smiled, a warm feeling filling his chest.

He squeezed the man's shoulder,

"Congratulations." Laughing nervously the man stared down at the ring,

"We aren't engaged yet. He has to say yes."

"You are a brave man." Chat murmured, thinking about how he still couldn't quite work up the courage to tell Ladybug how he feels.

"You stopped a robber." The man pointed out, and Chat shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, but I'm a cat." He answered with a wink.

Before anyone could say another word, Chat launched himself into the air and disappeared to the rooftops of Paris. Chat allowed himself a small smile. That was a good one.

Chat raced along the rooftops, pride filling his chest. He stopped a robber. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he sailed over a clothesline hanging on a patio.

He shouldn't feel this way. After all he stopped super villains all the time. Yet the annoying part of his brain pointed out, _with Ladybug_. If anything, more often than not, she stopped the villain and he just… helped. Admittedly he tended to protect her while on her way to stopping the villain- but she's the one who received all the attention. And she had never stopped a thief.

"Do I really want more attention?" Muttered Chat to himself, a point emphasized when he nearly ran into a giant billboard sporting his face. Chat skidded to a stop and stared up at the billboard. The answer should have been a resounding "No!"

But that wasn't right. Sure, Chat didn't want the attention Adrien received. The mindless worship that was more about who they wanted him to be and how he looked. Chat was a different story. As Chat, Adrien was more of himself in a way. He deserved recognition for saving the world, because that was something he did, it was a part of who he was.

For a moment Chat stared at his clawed hand and up at the billboard. He wanted to destroy the poster. Yet another poster making him look like some kind of perfect human being. And he wasn't.

Hearing a thud behind him and feeling the vibrations on the roof, Chat turned around to see his Lady. And she did not look happy.

Ladybug put her hands on her hips,

"Chat, what are you up to?" Normally Chat would bow or do some kind of over dramatic gesture that tickled his fancy. But for some reason he did not feel like it. The sight of his own poster and the ideas swirling in his head made him feel… kind of sick.

"Just a patrol." Chat said, turning his back on Ladybug and prepared to run away. Even she seemed to prefer perfect Adrien…. But she would have sacrificed herself for Chat too… she had said that.

Ladybug put her hand on his shoulder and turned him around. As usual, Chat was helpless around her.

"Since when do we patrol the city?" Chat blinked and stared at her,

"You told me- my friend that you were on patrol." He stuttered, as usual regretting what an idiot he could be around his Lady.

She stared at him for a moment. His cheeks grew red and for a moment he wondered if she had figured it out. Would she finally figure it out? Had he accidentally given it away? How would she feel knowing he was Adrien?

"You're… you're friends with Adrien?" Chat deflated a little and plopped himself down on the ground. Of course she didn't figure it out. And like she always said, it was for the better. Probably. But it didn't mean he had to like it.

"Yeah, something like that." He muttered, staring at the sky which had begun to darken.

Ladybug gave him a confused look and gracefully sat down next to him.

"You stopped a robbery." She observed.

A little of Chat's pride kicked in and he gave her a little smirk.

"Impressed, my…" He didn't finish. She didn't want him calling her, "my Lady." But it was hard to stop. It was how he thought of her.

Ladybug arched an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't you have left that to the police?"

Chat groaned and flopped backwards onto his back.

"I helped someone- there's nothing wrong with that! Everyone needs to stop…" What did he want to say? Treating him like a perfect prince? Acting like he was always a screw-up as Chat?

"I feel like no one accepts me for me." He muttered, more to himself than to her.

"We can't abuse our miraculouses." Ladybug pointed out, and Chat sat up.

"It's helping someone. How can that ever be wrong?" He sat up and tried to look Ladybug in the eye, but she wouldn't look at him.

Chat stood up,

"Ladybug, we're partners, we trust each other, we…" He wanted to say "love each other." It was true. In the deepest part of his heart Chat knew they loved each other. The question was what kind of love it was.

Ladybug sighed and stood up, putting her hands on his shoulders. She looked him right in the eye and asked,

"Why do you think no one accepts you?" The words seemed to fall out of his mouth, perfectly articulating how he felt.

"Because in my normal life everyone thinks I'm this perfect guy who I'm not and as Chat… no one seems to notice me."

"I notice you. I need you. Isn't that enough?" _Not if you love Adrien instead of Chat._ He thought, but he didn't dare to voice this thought. Not when there was a chance he was right.

"It should be, but I just feel so… trapped." Chat muttered, sitting back down again.

Ladybug lowered herself onto her knees and maintained her eye contact.

"Kitty… Chat… I know I can give you hard time, but I wouldn't change you for the world. You're my partner… puns and all." Tempted as he was to say something like, "purrfect" or "cat-tastic," he felt it might ruin the moment.

He noticed a blush begin to color Ladybug's cheeks. And he realized he'd missed an important question,

"What was the whole thing with patrols?" She cleared her throat and whispered,

"I um… I was kind of running late so I… transformed to get there faster." Chat stared at her beautiful and embarrassed face for a moment. Then he started laughing, the wonderful kind of belly laugh which made it hard to breath.

"We can't abuse our-" He started, attempting to mimic her better-than-thou manner, but he cracked up before reaching the last word. Ladybug's blush grew darker and she shoved him.

"Okay, but I needed an excuse… but we can't do patrols… or I can't."

"Are you sure? I can paint quite a pretty picture of patrols… the two of us strolling along the rooftops of Paris under the full moon." It sounded pretty darn romantic if he had to say so for himself.

Ladybug even seemed to find it hard to say no to that. She seemed to have swallowed her sharp tongue for a moment before she muttered,

"That… well… I… between school and saving the world and spending time with friends and family and… I don't really have time. And I kind of like sleep." She added, her face still quite red. If Chat didn't know any better, he would say she was tempted.

"But if you want to patrol… if you need that freedom… I understand. Sometimes it's just easier to be… this, than trying to figure out normal life." She could say that again. Chat smiled at her.

"Thank you." He wanted to kiss her. They were already sitting close, it would just be a matter of leaning in and… but things were already complicated enough.

As if to confirm that particular fact, Ladybug glanced up at the giant billboard of him and sighed a little. One of those little sighs that happen without you thinking about it. An unconscious, "ah" filled with desire and hope. Yup, things were pretty complicated.

Chat followed her gaze,

"Do you even know him?" Ladybug nodded without thinking and then immediately stopped herself. Wait, did they know each other in real life? Chat narrowed his eyes, waiting to hear more.

"He's sweet and quiet and smart and just… beautiful."

Chat rolled his green eyes and she immediately bristled,

"You're just jealous of him." It took all of Chat's willpower not to start laughing. It was kind of difficult to be jealous of himself. Especially when it was so hard trying to be perfect and please everyone. He settled for a simple snort instead,

"You don't know him. 'Sweet,' 'quiet,' 'smart?' These are all words you would use for a stranger." Ladybug opened her mouth to defend herself, but then quickly closed it. She leaned back and stared off into the distance.

"I… I never thought of it that way. Maybe… what if I don't know him?" She whispered to herself and Chat felt a little guilty.

But maybe it was time people started trying to know the real Adrien.

Ladybug looked over at him and took his hand.

"I… thank you. I think I needed to hear that." Chat smiled at her, his heart aching a little in his chest. She understood. His stubborn and passionate Ladybug actually understood. He loved her so much.

"Thank you." He whispered, but Ladybug was lost in her own world.

Chat stared out at the darkening sky and realized he needed to go back to the park His friends were probably worried sick about him. And who knows what would happen if the Gorilla returned home without him.

He stood up and bowed to Ladybug.

"Until next time." Chat murmured, his eyes fixed on her sea blue ones.

As he turned to go, Ladybug cleared her throat. He turned to look at her. Quietly, as if embarrassed to ask, Ladybug half muttered,

"Why… why don't you call me your Lady anymore?" Chat blinked and replied simply,

"You asked me not to."

That seemed to move Ladybug beyond anything he'd ever done. She stood up and hugged him. Chat froze for a moment, trying to understand what was happening before allowing himself to enjoy the hug. And the fact that she smelled like vanilla.

"You can call me your Lady… if you like." She murmured into his ear, and a wide smile grew. His face felt a little hot.

"Not a problem, Bugaboo."

Ladybug snorted and broke off the hug. It was a little sooner than Chat would have preferred.

"Don't push it."

Chat gave her a cat-like grin and bowed again.

"Whatever you say my Lady."

He disappeared into the night, returning to the park. Before leaving he did manage to catch a look at Ladybug smiling. His heart did a little backflip. She may not love him in that way, but there was hope. And that was all he needed.

Chat landed in the same bushes he transformed behind earlier that day and stepped out as Adrien. He only went about five feet back towards the carousel before practically running into Nino.

"Dude, where have you been?" Adrien felt his cheeks go red and he muttered something about being sick in the bathroom.

Nino put his hand on his shoulder and nodded,

"I should have known you have a weak stomach. I bet you can't even ride roller coasters either." Technically Adrien had only been on a few roller coasters, but they were nothing compared to using his pole to leap through the air. However, he couldn't tell Nino that. "No problem, carousels aren't your thing. We have a bunch of other stuff we can do. Ever heard of glow-in-the-dark jump roping?"

"Uh, no." Adrien said as Nino lead him back into the park,

"Good, I just made it up. But it'll be fun."

They arrived back at the carousel just as Marinette arrived. Alya sat on the carousel, scrolling through her phone.

"Sightings of Chat and Ladybug- but no villain, I don't get it." Adrien stifled a laugh and let Nino drag him to the edge of the carousel.

Marinette looked a bit antsy next to him, but that was her usual reaction sadly enough. One of these days he would figure out why.

"We are jump roping and playing with glow-in-the-dark paint." Nino announced dramatically, and there was an awkward silence.

"Uh, cool." Adrien replied, trying to be a supportive best friend. Alya looked up from her phone long enough to say,

"Yeah, cool idea babe." It seemed like these two would never pick decent pet names for each other, Adrien thought. I mean at least he was original, "my Lady," "Bugaboo."

Nino ignored their lack of enthusiasm and pulled the glow-in-the-dark paint out of his backpack. Marinette scooted towards him like she approaching a wild animal. Adrien could practically feel Plagg laughing in his pocket.

He still had this idea that Marinette was basically his girlfriend. Which was pretty crazy since they could barely get through a single conversation together.

In a rambling and awkward manner, that admittedly was pretty endearing, Marinette asked,

"So um, Adrien, what's your favorite color- I mean what color do you want to use- I mean mine's green like your- like, I like green."

"Blue," Adrien told her, thinking about Ladybugs eyes. Marinette smiled and then took a deep breath,

"If… you know if you like I could draw a little… design on you- for you- I mean I do design stuff."

For a moment Adrien was confused, then he noticed Nino painting himself in purple and orange and red with the paint. Adrien smiled and nodded,

"That would great."

Adrien grabbed the blue paint from Nino and handed it to Marinette. Her hands shook while accepting the paint, their fingers almost touched. She dipped a finger into the paint and took a deep breath.

Marinette was about to draw on his face when she stopped,

"What kind of a design do you want?"

Nino had only used stars and circles and squiggles on his face and arms, but Adrien had an idea,

"What about a cat?" Plagg snorted his pocket, but Marinette nodded. Adrien closed his eyes and felt her fingers shake as she began dapping his face. He knew she was growing more confident as her strokes became even and had real intent behind them.

He opened his eyes as she moved on to putting a few additional squiggles on his arms. Marinette swallowed and pulled a small mirror out of her purse.

Adrien admired his blue whiskers, cat mouth- she had even added details around his eyes to make them more cat-like.

"Purrfect." He said without thinking, and blushed. Normally he left the cat-puns to Chat.

Marinette wrinkled her nose at his pun, but smiled.

"Hey, Marinette, hurry up with the paint. We're about to get started!" Nino called. Adrien glanced over at him and saw Alya give him an irritated jab to the ribs.

Marinette glanced at Adrien for a moment before picking up some bright green paint He walked over to Nino and Alya as they quietly argued. They immediately shut up once he was within listening distance. Adrien decided to pretend he didn't notice.

"So how do you play glow-in-the-dark jump rope?" Nino pulled two jump ropes out of his bag.

"Two people alternate the jump ropes and one or two people jump in the center."

"Isn't that just jump rope?" Alya asked, clearly still a little irritated about something.

"Yeah, but since it's dark we can have a little fun and play with glow-in-the-dark paint." Adrien laughed and shook his head at his best friend.

Marinette reappeared with shooting stars drawn on her arms and a little ladybug on her cheek. It looked pretty cute.

Alya on the other hand had gone hard-core ladybug with various colored spots and even drawing a little mask around her eyes.

Nino handed Marinette and Alya the jump ropes.

"I'm going first- Adrien you can watch and decide if you want to go next." Adrien snickered. While he hadn't actually jump roped before, he was pretty sure he could handle the basic concept.

Marinette and Alya both took a few steps back and began alternating the ropes. Nino smiled at Adrien and then jumped in the middle of the twirling ropes. And he was pretty amazing. It was almost like he was dancing as he jumped, keeping the rhythm of the two ropes.

Alya shook her head,

"I can do better than that." Nino twisted himself to face her and stuck out his tongue.

"So prove it." Alya looked over at Adrien,

"Take over for me." It took a moment to smoothly switch him the ropes, but without missing a beat, Adrien was alternating the jump ropes.

Alya took a running jump in. She hit the middle and begin doing little twirls. She almost looked like Ladybug- at least in how she moved.

Adrien grinned, his eye incidentally meeting Marinette's on the other side of the ropes. They smiled at each other, everyone in rhythm.

At least until Alya kissed Nino on the cheek while they jumped. This shocked him enough that he missed the next jump, accidentally tangling everyone in the ropes and pulling them all to the ground.

They all sat on their butts for a minute and then began laughing. It felt like the perfect night.


	3. The Wordsmith

Wordsmith

Marinette had noticed two things before the bell rang for Writing and Literature class. One, Adrien was wearing a new brown jacket, probably one of his father's design. This obviously left Marinette with the dilemma of whether to stare at Adrien or his jacket. Also, how to avoid be caught staring at either… and the potential for drooling was high.

The second thing Marinette noticed was how odd Chloe was acting. Typically, she raced over to greet Adrien and forced a hug onto him, aiming for a kiss when possible. Instead today she barely managed a wave. And when she walked in to find Lila sitting in her seat, Chloe just took Sabrina's normal seat. No shouting, no arguing, no threatening with her father… she sat down and told Sabrina to sit behind her.

Lila, of course, went right over to Adrien and felt his new jacket— a bit more than necessary. Marinette actually felt her cheeks go red from looking at them. Whether it was from second hand embarrassment or anger, she couldn't quite tell.

It took all of Marinette's self-control not to snap her pencil in half. She took a deep breath and set down the pencil, forcing herself to focus on her recent sketch. Lately she had been planning to try her hand at making gloves. After all the weather was getting colder, and she thought she might have an idea for something stylish but would still allow her to use her cellphone.

When she managed to control her temper enough to look up, Lila was back in her seat (or rather Chloe's usual seat) and Alya was giving her a knowing smile.

"Doing all right over there?"

Marinette took a deep breath and nodded. She was taking the high road; she was getting to know Adrien rather than obsessing over him like Chloe and Lila. That didn't mean that she was above wanting to smack Lila into next year though.

"I'm fine." Replied Marinette, her voice squeaking a little.

Alya chuckled and looked down at Nino and Adrien.

"You could tell him that you like his new jacket. You are the fashion designer."

"I'm not a fashion designer… yet." Marinette muttered, once again caught between studying the jacket and studying Adrien. It was sleek design, cut close to his body, but surely Mr. Agreste has included pockets somewhere, maybe on the inside. She could ask Adrien— but in all honesty could? Rambling around Adrien was a frequent problem of hers.

Tearing her eyes away, Marinette glanced over at Chloe, who seemed very focused on staring straight ahead at the board.

"What do you think's going on with Chloe? I thought she would pitch a fit after Lila stole her usual seat."

Alya shrugged, clearly aware that Marinette wanted to steer the conversation away from Adrien.

"Maybe she's sick or something." She certainly did have a weird look on her face, especially the way she glanced over at Lila every few minutes.

But if Chloe Bourgeois was sick, Marinette would have bet she just wouldn't show up to school. She wasn't exactly dedicated to her studies.

Glancing down at Tikki sleeping in her bag, Marinette couldn't help thinking she wasn't exactly a star student either. Although an absence due to needing to save the world was different. But that excuse wouldn't exactly pass if she happened to miss when an assignment was passed out because she tried to stop a fire breathing dragon from trying to melt the Eiffel tower.

Marinette spared another glance over at Chloe and Lila. To no one's surprise, Lila was trying to flirt with Adrien from her seat, but she seemed completely unaware of her breech in social protocol.

People just didn't cross Chloe. Even Marinette did her best not to provoke the other girl's wrath. If Chloe started it or was picking on another student, that was one thing, but Marinette wouldn't go out of her way to bother Chloe. So why wasn't Chloe acting like her usual princess self?

Shaking her head, Marinette reached for her pencil, accidentally knocking it off the table. She hurried to get it, only to find herself face to face with Adrien. They both bent down over it, their heads and hands almost touching.

Her blue eyes met his green ones and her face went red. For a moment she forgot what she was supposed to be doing.

"Hi Adrien," Her face was red; her breath probably smelled horrible, she was staring at him… it was a disaster. But it looked like he might be blushing too, but what could that mean?

Adrien handed her the pencil with a smile.

"Uh, I think you dropped his." Marinette fumbled with her words, her brain had gone all fuzzy again.

"Yeah, thanks, I'm so clumsy, clumsy Marinette." She managed to stop herself from saying anything else.

Then Marinette remembered she wanted to ask him about the jacket—or she could at least compliment him on it. But just as she opened her mouth, the teacher walked in.

Adrien did smile at her as he stood back up and returned to his seat. Marinette scurried up to her seat, hoping that her face wasn't Ladybug red. She didn't dare look at Alya in case she would turn into a puddle of embarrassment.

Instead she focused her attention on Mademoiselle Bustier as they finished discussing _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ and completed their unit on American literature. Everyone laughed when Nino commented that he had actually read this book, which goes to show how good it was. They brought up the way Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer were so different but also similar.

Like how Huckleberry was more of a "realist" as Mademoiselle Bustier told them, whereas Tom was a romantic. But they both still believed in a lot of the same things.

Perhaps it was Marinette's imagination, but she thought she caught Chloe staring at Lila more often than not during the discussion. She even offered to tell Lila about the book since she had missed reading the book with the class. That would have been interesting since there was a good chance Chloe hadn't even read the book.

Mademoiselle Bustier closed the discussion and told them that she had been so impressed with their papers she was going to the Principal to see if he would allow her to select a book from an upper grade level for their next unit. Nino grumbled about how they were being rewarded with a harder book, but the teacher was pretty excited.

" _Frankenstein_ would be such an interesting challenge for all of you. The idea of what is man's place in the world, the moral ambiguity of Frankenstein and his monster—"

"Wait, Frankenstein isn't the monster?" Max asked, and she shook her head with a smile,

"That's a common mistake; it is Doctor Frankenstein, and then his monster, who is never given a name."

"But it's a monster, what's so 'ambiguous' about that?" Marinette wondered, and Mademoiselle Bustier smiled at her,

"I'll leave that for you to figure out. But it should be quite the discussion once we get started." She smiled at all of them widely; Marinette had never seen her so excited. She liked books and reading for the most part, but not nearly as much as Mademoiselle Bustier did.

The bell rang and everyone began packing up their things. Their teacher bid them adieu before heading for the principal's office. She really wanted them to read _Frankenstein._

Marinette dropped her copy of _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ in her backpack along with her class notebook. She went to pack up her sketch notebook and stopped.

An idea struck her about her gloves. What if she included some kind of cute bow or buckle along the wrist? And if the length went a little longer than her wrists to her forearms. That way she could avoid the awkward exposed area where the gloves left off and her jacket began.

Flipping open the notebook, Marinette took a second to add the embellishment. The ideas kept flowing, but she wanted to avoid being late to class.

Standing up, Marinette nearly collided with Adrien. He blushed and pointed to her sketches.

"Uh, sorry… I just wanted to see what you were drawing."

Trying to ignore the voice in the back of her mind panicking, Marinette smiled at him and picked up her notebook.

"I uh, I was just coming up with something for the winter, when it's cold, I mean it's always colder in the winter- you know what I mean." Internally groaning, Marinette realized as usual, she didn't have nearly as much control over her panic as she thought she did.

Why was taking down super villains easier than talking to boys?

Adrien just smiled and pointed to the longer edges of the gloves.

"I like this part; it's so annoying when you can't cover your wrists with the gloves or the jacket."

They both kind of smiled at each other, Marinette doing her best not to get caught up in his green eyes. She cleared her throat,

"Your new jacket's really cool- your dad's design right?" Adrien nodded, his face a little guarded for some reason, but Marinette went on, "Did he include pockets inside? The form fitting shape is really… really… it's nice. But you- you know- need a place to put things."

Adrien gestured towards her,

"See you understand- but my father insisted that I would be fine."

"But who doesn't like pockets?"

"That's what I said."

Marinette's head was swimming. She was actually having a conversation with Adrien. They were talking and she managed to say words in their proper order and without sputtering.

The bell ring and both of them froze.

"I'm late for Study Hall." They both said at the same time. It would have been a cute moment if they both weren't desperately grabbing their stuff and bolting towards the door.

Marinette collapsed into her usual seat beside Alya and Nino. The two had been whispering to each other as she bolted into the room, doing her best impression of the invisible girl as she went for her seat. For once, that actually worked.

Adrien came in seconds after her, but he accidentally slammed the door and had to face the teacher's wrath alone. Marinette gave him a sympathetic look and he managed a weak smile while facing a lecture on the importance of being punctual.

Alya slid closer to Marinette and raised an eyebrow.

"You and Adrien both coming to Study Hall late, very suspicious." Avoiding eye contact, Marinette dug though her backpack for some homework to work on.

"You and Nino whispering in the corner, even more suspicious."

"We're dating, we can do that… you know we're dating right? Alya, have you been telling people we aren't dating?" Nino asked, his eyes swiveling between Marinette and Alya.

Alya stared at him for a moment and returned her attention to Marinette.

"When I left, you were sketching in your notebook, and Adrien was trying to look over your shoulder. So what happened?"

Nino raised an eyebrow and waved a hand in front of Alya's face.

"Um, Alya, you didn't answer my-"

Alya rolled her eyes and grabbed the front of Nino's shirt. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and returned her attention to Marinette.

"I need dirt now."

With his head somewhat in the clouds, Nino murmured,

"Wow…" Alya allowed herself a small smile and glanced over at Nino,

"I wouldn't have done that if I was telling people we aren't dating."

Marinette rolled her eyes at the two of them. They should not be allowed to be so cute together.

Alya refocused her laser gaze on Marinette, who just gave a little sigh of defeat.

"Nothing happened- we talked about my design and his new jacket. That's it."

"But you had a conversation with him." Alya pointed out with a smug smile, and Marinette had to admit she had a point.

"That's pretty good, I mean don't you always like stutter and ramble-" Nino started, but stopped once Alya jabbed him in the ribs. He certainly knew how to drive a point home.

Marinette stared down at her notebook, trying to hide beneath her bangs.

"Let's not make too big a deal out of this." She mumbled,

"Out of what?" Adrien asked, dropping his stuff into the seat next to Nino.

Marinette froze in her seat, staring at Adrien for a second.

"Adrien- don't you usually get excused from Study Hall for your Chinese lessons- or something." She hastily added, but Adrien did not seem to notice.

"My teacher's out sick today. I figured I could work on my paper in here instead of all alone."

Glancing over at Lila and Chloe, both of whom were giving Marinette the evil eye, Marinette ducked her head down.

Oh boy, she managed a single conversation with Adrien, but this might be pushing it. Luckily he headed for the bathroom before actually sitting at their table. She would probably explode without a minute of freaking out to Alya. But she would also have to hold back a little on the freak out because Nino was there. He knew she liked Adrien, but he didn't need to know how much she liked him.

Leaning closer to Alya, she whispered frantically,

"What do I do?"

"This is exactly what you've been waiting for. Talk to him, ask him out!" Alya whispered back, and Marinette went pale. Ask out Adrien. Just like that. To a movie or something… she'd rather face Le Papillon alone.

Could she do it now? Did she even want to force it instead of talking with him more, getting to know him better?

Marinette groaned and rested her chin on the table. She stared straight ahead and noticed something strange. Chloe was sitting with Lila. She blinked and watched as a blushing Chloe talked to Lila.

A strange thought crossed her mind. What if Chloe liked Lila? Like, had a crush on Lila? After all, Lila was beautiful and Chloe certainly wouldn't let anyone else just steal her seat or try to steal Adrien.

Before Marinette could explore the thought further, the doors to the Study Hall crashed open. In stepped a woman in an elaborate black dress and a smirk on her face. For a moment Marinette almost couldn't recognize Mademoiselle Bustier. That tends to happen when a person's been akumitized.

"STAY." Mademoiselle Bustier murmured, the word forming in the air and crashed into the ground. The floor rattled and bucked.

On pure instinct, Marinette pulled herself and Alya onto the table. Alya grabbed hold of Nino just in time, as the chairs reached up with reanimated wooden arms, trying to hold them in place.

Marinette raised an eyebrow and stared at her teacher. Clearly the conversation with the Principal did not go as planned.

Chloe screamed at the back of the room, everyone who had remained seated were strapped to their chairs.

"SILENCE." Yelled the Wordsmith. The word floated into the air and then dispersed liked pollen, floating around the room.

No a sound could be heard from any of the students. Not even the tables or chairs squeaked. The only noise was from the Wordsmith's heels as she walks down the rows of Study Hall.

"That's the beauty of words. When their impact is fully appreciated. When you listen." She told them.

As she glanced towards Alix and Kim shaking in their seats, Marinette took the opportunity to drop off the table. Alya and Nino followed her lead, hiding under the table.

Marinette glance towards the doors, she needed to get out of there and transform into Ladybug- and fast. As she started to crawl towards the exit, Alya grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her head.

She pointed towards Wordsmith, who was now facing them while walking up the aisle. She hadn't found them hiding under the table but if Marinette moved now, they would be discovered.

"We need words, new words, beautiful words. But Monsieur Damocles believes otherwise. Like so many others he won't listen. And now they have to."

Marinette did not like the sound of that last part. But waiting under the desk, she could only hope that Chat would find his way over here.

As the Wordsmith made her way back down the aisle, Marinette saw her chance and rushed behind the nearest bookshelf. She turned to see Alya and Nino right behind her.

Marinette glanced through spaces in between the books and sighed with relief as the Wordsmith continued her pacing. At least they hadn't caught her attention. Which was a miracle in and of itself since they kept moving like some of train with Marinette in front and Nino bringing up the rear.

Now only to escape and transform, Marinette thought. Only as usual Alya and Nino had their own plans. Whenever she took a step towards the doors, they started for follow her. And the whole not-being-able-to-talk thing made it difficult to let them know she needed them to stay put.

"Now where are those two? I don't tolerate tardiness in my class." The Wordsmith murmured, and with a jolt, Marinette realized she was talking about her and Chat.

Usually the villains were so focused on exacting their revenge; obeying Le Papillon's orders typically came second. Only this case, it seemed to be the Wordsmith's first priority.

Of course Marinette had no idea what the Wordsmith had done to the Principal. But either way, it would be a problem. Especially when Marinette considered how she could simply command Ladybug and Chat to appear and hand over their Miraculouses. She needed a plan and fast.

Marinette turned to Alya and Nino. To her surprise, she found she could manage a whisper. The Word magic seemed to wear off a little as the Wordsmith's attention became less focused.

"We need to distract Wordsmith until Ladybug and Chat Noir come."

"We do?" Asked Nino, Alya elbowed him in the side.

"Of course we do. It's time to fight back- now what's the plan."

Drat, Marinette had hoped that one of them would have a plan… but wait.

"We're going old school- throwing balls of paper, rubber band slingshots- anything. We'll spread out, keep her distracted and keep moving." Marinette instructed, already searching for the best vantage points with the most cover.

Alya and Nino nodded in agreement. Nino took the far end of the library, balling up old posters and stacks of filers for ammunition. Alya, always ready for a challenge, climbed on top of one of the smaller bookcases and accepted the basket of erasers from Marinette.

Marinette considered leaving to transform, but she it didn't feel right abandoning her friends. Once Chat arrived everything would be easier. If only that stupid cat would get on it.

Marinette found a place near the windows where the sun would get the eyes of Wordsmith. Now if she could just find the proper ammunition. Tikki whispered a few suggestions, but she needed to keep out of sight in Marinette's pocket.

Looking around under the tables and desks, Marinette froze when she saw Adrien standing in the window. He was peeking in, obviously confused. Doing her best to be subtle- never her strong suit around Adrien- Marinette gestured no and pointed to Wordsmith, who appeared to doing some kind of English lecture. Apparently even as a villain Mademoiselle Bustier could not resist a good teachable moment.

Adrien stared at the Wordsmith in horror and stared at Marinette. She tried to give a reassuring smile, but it was getting hard. She was going to kill that cat. Adrien seemed to get the message and slide out of view, which let Marinette return to search for a weapon.

Admittedly the books around her could work, but at the same time they also provided ample cover. There was no point throwing away one of her few advantages. Luckily Tikki pointed out a supply of rubber bands- those would have to work.

Tapping twice and then three times on the ground, Marinette signaled that she was ready. Or at least as ready as she would ever be. The plan was to alternate attacks- moving when possible- and providing cover for the one moving.

Nino started, throwing a handful of paper airplanes, most of them flying widely off target while others flying true. Wordsmith held out her hand, catching the airplane aimed for her face. She crumpled it in her hand.

"Throwing paper in my class- disrespectful. DETENTION." Wordsmith commanded.

Marinette wasn't sure what that particular word would mean for them- but as the furniture began to buck the trapped students around, she zipped a few rubber bands at Wordsmith's head.

Slowly the Wordsmith turned towards Marinette's corner of the room. A chill went down Marinette's spine. She wasn't Ladybug right now. She was just a powerless kid.

"COME to the front of the class." The word hit Marinette like a stack of bricks- her bookshelves offered no protection.

She felt her spine stiffen, all her limbs forced into following the command. Tikki struggled in her shirt pocket, but there was nothing she could do. Especially when keeping Ladybug's identity secret was more vital than ever. Marinette reached the front of the room and the Wordsmith studied her.

Alya tried to throw a few erasers at Wordsmith, alternating with Nino's paper airplanes, but Wordsmith only had eyes for Marinette.

"I will not tolerate disobedience…" Wordsmith faltered for a moment, lifting her hand to Marinette's ears, "your earrings-" Marinette couldn't move, but she was desperate to slap, fight, run- anything to keep Wordsmith from her Miraculous.

The door burst open to reveal a very familiar and very late figure.

"Did I miss something?" Chat asked with his signature smirk.

Marinette wanted to slap him and sigh with relief at the same time. He tended to have that effect on her.

Wordsmith turned her attention to Chat,

"HAND OVER your Miraculous." Commanded the Wordsmith.

The words turning into giant steel bars that attempted to wrap themselves around Chat. He used his staff to extend higher in the air and jump onto a book shelf.

Marinette was so busy watching that she almost didn't notice that Wordsmith's control over her seemed to have diminished. She could begin to slide her feet, moving backwards and away from the villain.

"Childish imp," Wordsmith called after Chat, "How long can you possibly last? You alone are nothing. Ladybug is the real prize."

Hot anger boiled in Marinette's blood. Chat on the other hand remained cool and collected. He slipped around the library like a shadow and gave Wordsmith a cheeky smile.

"Don't I know it." Only a shadow of sadness lurked in his eyes.

That simple phrase scared Marinette more than anything. Surely Chat knew what he meant to her? He couldn't really mean that.

Marinette fought off the last of the Wordsmith's hold. She reached for the book Wordsmith held in her hands. That had to be where the akuma was.

Wordsmith snatched her hand, dragging Marinette closer. She laughed; a chilling sound that Mademoiselle Bustier should not be capable of making.

"Chat Noir, even this little girl knows you cannot stop me and thinks she can do it herself."

Marinette caught the look of horror in Chat's eyes. Fighting down her own fear, Marinette realized that Wordsmith was right. Words have power, not just the magical kind, but regular words could inflict pain, sometimes without trying.

But if words could hurt, they could also help.

"You're wrong." Marinette proclaimed. The world seemed to go silent for a moment. She took advantage of the quiet,

"Chat is smart and resourceful and powerful. He is just as good as Ladybug- maybe better." Marinette added, accidentally voicing a secret idea of hers that Chat might be the better person.

She usually rushed into danger and acted irrationally. It had been her fault when Chloe and Lila had been akumatized. Chat had never done anything that bad- although his puns might make them even.

"They are yin and yang- nothing without the other."

When Marinette searched around the library with her eyes, she searched for Chat. She hoped that he believed her.

Chat suddenly appeared eye level with Marinette- only hanging upside down his tail.

"I wouldn't go that far."

He snatched the book out of the Wordsmith's hand, blackening it with his Cataclysm. It disintegrated.

Marinette realized something very important- she needed to leave. Ladybug needed to purify the akuma and she couldn't do that as Marinette.

While Mademoiselle Bustier returned to normal, Marinette ran out of the room. Chat reached out for her,

"Marinette-" She shook her head,

"Um, someone needs to check on the Principal."

Marinette only went around the corner, reassured herself that no one could see her, and transformed.

Ladybug walked into the room,

"Chat you could have told me about this, well I guess it's too late, here let me just take care of this akuma." She babbled, capturing the little black butterfly.

"De-evilize!" She proclaimed, letting her yoyo do its magic.

Chat looked at her with wonder and confusion as Ladybug finished with,

"Bye, bye pretty butterfly." Sighing with relief, she looked at Chat.

"That could have been bad." Chat smiled with an odd look on his face.

In fact he wasn't the only one with an odd look on his face. After being freed from the chair, everyone looked a bit shaken. Chloe was comforting Lila, who seemed shaken up after her first time being on the other side of an akuma attack. They looked pretty adorable together- but that might have been wishful thinking.

"Ladybug, I thought I was late." Doing her best to look bashful, Ladybug held out her fist,

"Pound it?" Chat smiled and gently tapped his fist against hers. He glanced around,

"I should find Marinette, she risked her life to get the akuma- and now she's checking on the Principal. She's always thinking of others."

Now Ladybug was really bashful. Always felts like a stretch. She wasn't always thinking of others. In fact more often than not, she seemed to be thinking about herself. Or Adrien, but in a way that also felt like thinking of herself.

Chat headed out the door and Marinette realized with a start she needed to transform again. Boy, this was a weird day.

Ladybug smiled to the class, gave a dramatic wave, and used her yoyo to fly out the window. She needed to transform and get outside of the Principal's office, stat. Reaching the roof over his office, Ladybug slid down the to the second floor. Transforming mid-slid, Marinette landed neatly outside the door.

She was just in time as Chat walked up to her.

"Marinette, are you all right." He seemed genuinely concerned about her, which kind of threw her off. Chat was normally so full of bluster; it was kind of nice to see him a little worried.

He never worried about Ladybug. After all Ladybug was supposed to be practically perfect, so who would ever worry about her.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Marinette asked, realizing she had a few good reasons not to be. Like confronting a villain up close and person, nearly losing her Miraculous, putting Alya and Nino in danger, and probably half a dozen other things she wasn't thinking about.

"That was a close call with Wordsmith; I just wanted to… check on you?" He added lamely, and Marinette giggled. It was kind of adorable to see him concerned about her.

"I'm okay… are you okay?" Wordsmith had said some cruel things, and the worst part was that Chat seemed to believe them.

"I'm purr-fect." Chat joked. Marinette suppressed a groan. She should have expected that he could only last so long before making a cat-pun.

"But um, thanks for what you said back there… most people seem to treat me like Ladybug's sidekick."

"That's ridiculous." She blurted out without thinking. Blushing, she added, "You two need each other. And Ladybug wasn't the one who stopped the Wordsmith."

Chat smiled a little to himself,

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Although you didn't do too bad by yourself."

Marinette was shocked how natural it felt to talk to Chat this way.

Chat obviously respected Ladybug, but sometimes it seemed like he put her up on a pedestal. Here, it almost felt like they could talk and treat each other like equals. Like he was seeing the superhero side of her without the super-transformation, the part no one else seemed able to see.

Chat's ring beeped. He looked a little disappointed.

"I've got to run. Maybe I'll see you around."

Marinette did her best not to laugh.

"Maybe." Chat extended his staff and flew up onto the roof.

Marinette shook her head. Oh he'd see her again, just the next time there was a villain around.

Returning to Study Hall, Marinette checked in with everyone. Most of the students trapped in the chairs had received a few bruises, but otherwise everyone was fine.

People kept going over to Nino and Alya to say how brave they were to try to stand up to the Wordsmith. Everyone thanked Marinette except for Chloe and Lila. But they were a little too busy talking. Were they trash talking her? Flirting? It was impossible to tell.

Marinette let out a sigh of relief when Adrien came in unharmed. At least he had heeded her warning and stayed away. His being there would have complicated matters- Marinette would have been too busy worrying about him to stand up to Wordsmith.

"Marinette, I heard what happened, are you okay?" Adrien asked, and Marinette felt a little star struck. He cared! But he's a really caring guy- but he asked how SHE was.

"I- I'm fine. Just…" Confused would be a good word. Especially since she was talking to Adrien, ADRIEN, and she kept thinking about Chat. "I think I'll head home." She could transform into Ladybug and clear her head.

"I can give you a ride home." His eyes shone with concern and Marinette forgot how words worked. Adrien, giving her a ride home? The two of them sitting together in the back of a car? Alone?

Alya, eavesdropping as usual, elbowed Marinette, jolting her back into action.

"That would be nice." Marinette said sincerely, feeling her usual infatuation growing. She had images of holding hands and resting on her head on his shoulder. And yet Chat was in there still.

"Great, I'll have the car come pick us up. You should sit down for now."

That sounded like a really good idea. Because various emotions were filling her from the inside and Marinette wasn't sure how to deal with them.

Adrien left and Alya smiled smugly at her.

"Girl!"

Alya noticed Marinette's expression for the first time.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know… I think I'm just confused." Alya smacked her arm,

"This is what you've wanted. Ask Adrien out, he clearly likes you!"

It finally hit Marinette. Why she felt so confused and conflicted. Or at least part of the reason.

"I barely know him." In all her obsessing and crazy dreams, Marinette had thought she knew Adrien. But did she? And could he ever know her? Because it wasn't like she could tell him about being Ladybug. There would always be a side of herself he would never get to see.

Alya brought her back to reality,

"You date him to get to know him better. It's not like you're getting married." Marinette forced a smile. Duh, it wasn't serious. It could just be the movies or something.

But at the same time, it was like she finally saw the world in a new way. She had been trying to get to know the real Adrien, but the crush had never lessened in strength. She just became better at handling it.

Only now, she wasn't sure how she felt or what she wanted. It was scary.

Adrien walked up to her and held out his hand.

"Come on, we can sit on the steps to wait."

Marinette took his hand. It felt nice, simplifying things a bit.

As she followed him, Marinette marveled at how Adrien's hand was a little bigger than hers and very soft. Her hand didn't even sweat.

They reached the front steps and Marinette was reminded of the day when she first started falling in love- or rather crushing on Adrien. It was raining, but he gave her his umbrella. It was such a simple gesture, but everything about him was so heartfelt.

The two of them sat down on the steps staring out at their little corner of Paris. Adrien never did let go of her hand. Marinette's heart fluttered at the thought, but for some reason she knew she wouldn't have problems talking to Adrien anymore.

He wasn't "the perfect guy" anymore, he was a great person who helped people and genuinely cared. And he happened to be super cute, but that was beside the point.

Adrien looked over at her,

"So, did you think we'll read _Frankenstein_ now?" Marinette had to think back and remember how that one book was the cause behind the most recent akuma.

"I don't know. But I think I want to read it now." He smiled; his hair looked like gold in the sunlight. Marinette almost had to shield her eyes from the shine.

"Me too. Maybe we can read it together."

Marinette smiled,

"I'd like that."

And just like that, they were two friends, waiting for a ride, and just enjoying each other's company. If they would be something more, they would figure it out later, Marinette decided as the sleek black car started to pull up. Maybe it could be that simple.


End file.
